Pandya four wicket haul helps, India to restrict Australia for 164

Krunal Pandya took a career-best four-wicket haul, helping India restrict Australia to 164 for six against India in the third and final T20 International here on Sunday.

Pandya's orthodox left-arm spin came in handy during the middle overs after the hosts had sped to 68-0 in the ninth over. With figures of four for 36, he was a tad expensive again but got India the timely breakthroughs.

Australia, who opted to bat, made one change to their line-up with Mitchell Starc coming in for Jason Behrendorff. India picked an unchanged eleven.

Aaron Finch (28) and D'Arcy Short (33) then provided a cautious start to the innings, albeit they picked up momentum quickly as the Indian pacers struggled in conditions vastly different from Brisbane and Melbourne.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0-33) and Khaleel Ahmed (0-35) both proved expensive, while first-change Jasprit Bumrah (0-38) too didn't stem the flow of runs, as Australia raced to 49-0 at the end of powerplay overs.

The Finch-Short partnership put pressure on the Indian fielding, shoddy again, and Rohit Sharma put down a sitter off Finch (on 22) at the start of the eight over off Pandya.

Kuldeep Yadav (1-19) then provided the much-awaited breakthrough as Finch was out caught sweeping at the short fine leg.

It opened the doors to the Australian middle order. Glenn Maxwell (13) survived an lbw shout via DRS off Yadav, but Short and Ben McDermott (0) were dismissed lbw off successive balls in the tenth over as Pandya pegged Australia back.

The quick wickets disturbed Australia’s momentum and they never really recovered, losing wickets at regular intervals in the second half of their innings. They had held back Chris Lynn (13) but he couldn’t provide the requisite impetus, run-out in the 18th over.

In between Pandya also accounted for Maxwell, caught by Sharma in the end, as also the vital wicket of Alex Carey (27) who held the Australian middle order together after initial setbacks.

Marcus Stoinis (25 not out off 15 balls) played an attacking cameo at the end and put on 33 runs with Nathan Coulter-Nile (13 not out) as Australia finished with a score just above average (151) at this ground.

Australia leads the three-match series 1-0 after winning the first T20I in Brisbane by four runs (DLS). The second match in Melbourne was washed out.

(With inputs from agencies.)